I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 124 Joy and Sorrow

By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination system had developed so well that every sentence in the Four Books and Five Classics had been tested repeatedly, making it impossible to come up with new ideas.

Then you can only try to be weird. The weirder it is, the more attractive it will be to the examiners.

If you can use uncommon characters, you should never write common characters.

If a character can be written in multiple ways, just pick the complex one.

The Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song all expressed their true feelings and used straightforward words and sentences. This style of writing is difficult to imitate. Without a solid foundation and rich experience, it is easy to write in a mediocre and shallow way.

Therefore, the articles of the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song were eliminated from the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty.
By the later period of the development of the eight-legged essay in the Ming Dynasty, there were scholars who could not even recite all the Four Books and Five Classics, but could still pass the provincial examinations if they could recite 500 model essays for the imperial examination.

So why read the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties? Wouldn't it be more useful to memorize a few model essays for the imperial examinations?
This is a typical case of bad money driving out good money.

This trend was also passed from bottom to top.

Zhu Houzhao's main form of education was the Imperial Lectures, which the Ming people attached great importance to and regarded as the most important thing to teach. The Imperial Lectures were almost the only opportunity for Confucian officials to get close to the emperor, influence his behavior, and cultivate his virtues, so they were naturally given special attention.

So what is said in the Jingyan is what everyone pays attention to. Can the prose of the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song be used to govern a country? There is no end to the subtle and profound meanings.

Moreover, the articles of the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties were not compiled and published like in later generations, and they could be found everywhere.

Books are still very precious today, and a book collection is the heritage of a family.

Many articles are either quietly lying in the Yongle Encyclopedia or in a book in a family's library.

Therefore, ordinary scholars had no chance to read all these articles.

Zhu Houxuan noticed this trend in the literary circles of the Ming Dynasty. He had no ability to change it, but he was determined to let the students in his education system see what he thought was good.

So they created the book series "Gu Wen Guan Zhi", which includes more than 200 articles from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, each of which is a famous masterpiece.

Compared with the eight-part essays that scholars pursue nowadays, Zhu Houxuan believes that this is the essence of Chinese national culture.

In real history, this set of books was selected and compiled into a book in the 33rd year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi.

In order to produce this set of books, Zhu Houxuan, with his status and financial resources, put in a lot of effort.

His education could not just stop at the level of literacy, he also wanted to give those with a gift for writing a chance to access better articles.

He only printed and distributed this set of "Gu Wen Guan Zhi" internally.

Zhu Houzhao was reading "Gu Wen Guan Zhi" with great interest, until the classroom was about to close. Someone reminded them to turn off the kerosene lamp on the table when they left. Only then did Zhu Houzhao and Jiang Bin know that this kind of oil lamp is called a kerosene lamp.

Zhu Houzhao walked out of the classroom and found that many places in Qizhou City were still brightly lit at this time. They walked to a high place and could see flashing lights in many places in the distance and on the opposite bank, which was completely different from many places they passed by which were pitch black at night.

Zhu Houzhao's sixth impression of Qizhou: Qizhou is very brightly lit at night
Zhu Houzhao felt that all this might be related to the kerosene he heard about today.
Zhu Houzhao and his companions found an inn to stay in. When he woke up the next day, Zhu Houzhao still had no intention of looking for Zhu Houxuan. Instead, he went to explore more novel things in Qizhou City.
"Daye Steel Plant's production capacity has reached the annual target planned at the beginning of the year. The price of steel has fallen to 0.8 taels of silver per pound, but our profits have not decreased."

"The production capacity of the textile mills has reached 350 million pieces per year, and half of the factories have switched to steam engines as their power source."

"Several coal mines under our control have used more steam engines to pump water and laid railways in the mining areas, which has greatly increased coal production."

"The yield rate of flat glass in the glass factory has been further improved."

"The wand samurai swords are selling well in Japan. The most expensive one with a chrysanthemum pattern was sold for 250,000 taels of silver." "The shipyard launched the third sea vessel built this year."

"The steam engine factory improved twelve parts and components, which increased the sealing of the cylinder. The improved steam engine output is 10% greater than before."

"Coking Plant"

"Literary and Art Team"

"Education Center"

"Glass mirror factory."

"Fertilizer Plant"

"Foundry"

"Railway Engineering Team"

In the Cunxin Hall in the Prince of Jing's Mansion, Zhu Houxuan was listening attentively to his subordinates' work reports.

Over the past three years, he has become more mature and stable.

"Okay, I have seen these achievements in your reports. Don't just report the good news. Tell us what problems you have now," Zhu Houxuan said as he glanced at the audience.

The people present exchanged glances with each other, and no one wanted to be the first to speak.

"When reporting bad news, no one wants to talk anymore, and just speak in the order you just said," Zhu Houxuan ordered.

Jin Tong, who was in charge of the steel plant, scratched his head and said carefully, "Our low-priced steel has caused many Suzhou Sugang workshops to close down. The families behind them are very angry. They plan to jointly boycott any goods produced in Qizhou."

"Is the reputation of Prince Jing's Mansion no longer effective in Suzhou?" Zhu Houxuan asked.

Jin Tong didn't say anything.

Zhu Houxuan turned his gaze to Hou Sen, who quickly said, "The increase in the production capacity of the textile factory has made it difficult to sell the local cloth near Qizhou. Some people from the neighboring counties planned to attack the textile factory and smash the machines. Fortunately, the colleagues in the art team guided public opinion and they did not initiate the action. In addition, if the production capacity is further expanded, the source of cotton will also become a problem."

Zhu Houxuan frowned. This matter was indeed a bit tricky.
"The coal suitable for coking in the mines we control is almost exhausted. We have been searching for a long time along the Yangtze River but have not found a mine that can produce a large amount of coal suitable for coking. If this problem is not solved, the quality of steel produced by the steel mill will be affected."

"The sales of 鐵铁刀 in China have already reached saturation."

"The King of Chu sent an envoy to say that he wanted to increase the sales share of Qizhou goods in Wuchang Prefecture, and asked for twice the previous share. Other royal palaces are also watching the King of Chu's actions."

"Mrs. Chen said before that she would send her younger brother to be the prince's disciple, but yesterday I received a letter saying that Mrs. Chen's plan was stopped by the Chen family. The Chen family seemed to be dissatisfied with the increasing number of ships we have."

Upon hearing this news, Zhu Houxuan couldn't help but frown.
“Education funding continues to increase.”

"The Portuguese want to tax our merchant ships in Southeast Asia."

It was Qin Ming's turn. Qin Ming handed Zhu Houxuan a note. Zhu Houxuan opened it and saw that it said: Two villages in Taiwan were attacked by savages, three people died and twenty-five were injured.
Zhu Houxuan frowned more and more as he answered each question. Some of the questions were very tricky and he didn't have any good solutions.
At this time, Yu Chunlai rushed in and shouted, "Your Majesty, a letter was sent from the capital via an express route of 800 miles."

Zhu Houxuan took the letter with a look of surprise, and then opened it with some doubt. He quickly read the letter, a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes, and his frown unconsciously relaxed.
(End of this chapter)